Do you know how hard it is to find a warm country to visit in the winter months in Europe? We looked at Turkey, Greece, Canary Islands, Mallorca, southern Spain, Tunisia and the list goes on. It just isn't warm enough for shorts, swimsuits and flip flops and that was what we were looking for.
We finally found it - Egypt! Egypt you might say? With the revolution going on and everything? Well, we did our homework first and went to the Canadian Government travel advisory website for Egypt. They suggested that we exercise a high degree of caution. But they say the same for the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, China, Belize, etc. We knew that we just had to be cautious and not talk politics and not get caught up in crowds, etc. Besides, we were just going for some sun and relaxation. We also knew that we shouldn't go to Cairo and to the pyramids (too bad) or to Luxor (home of King Tut) as the roads are too dangerous.
Christmas in a Muslim country - why not! So we booked an apartment in Sahl Hasheesh, which is a purpose built resort development with hotels, condominiums, villas and and Old Town with lots of shops and restaurants. Sahl Hasheesh, is about 20 km south of Hurghada on the Red Sea. Before you book your holiday here, remember Muslim's don't drink so you can't buy alcohol at any stores, but you can buy it from the restaurants and bars, but we decided to have a dry holiday.
The Red Sea is one of the best diving and snorkeling locations in the world. The fishing is very controlled and there is no industry to pollute the water.
Our apartment was located in Palm Beach Piazza located right next door to the Arrivals Piazza.
We didn't venture far. We went to edge of 'town' (read Hurghada) twice for groceries, once to downtown to buy good snorkel and fins at a dive shop.....
..and fresh peanuts.
This is how we spent our days....
Tim has an underwater camera, but it broke after the first day. Fortunately he was able to take a few photos prior to it breaking......
It is, perhaps, the best snorkeling that we have ever done! Amazing!
Christmas Eve...
Christmas Day...
These are our 'friends':
The Egyptian people are some of the most friendly and most welcoming people that we have ever met.
Some of the sights around Sahl Hasheesh....
They love photo-shop - look at this picture. Can you recognize this man?
Due to the economic downturn in the world and the revolution that started in January 2011 in Egypt, the economy has suffered terribly.
We were told that a couple of years ago things were just booming in Hurghada. People and tourists everywhere, new condos and hotels being built and then....the revolution. There are soooooo many buildings that are half built, just waiting for the economy to kick back in. It looks like they just dropped their tools and left...
It is quite sad. But this wasn't a Sahl Hasheesh phenomena, most of Hurghada was like this too.
This said, while we were there, the apartment that we were staying in was viewed by a German couple and we just found out that they bought it (list price £62,000 - british pounds) and another one in the building. So maybe the economy is starting to come back. There are apartments for sale here, not on the beach, listed at €20,000. Maybe the time is now to invest in Egypt!!
These half finished building are guarded by security...
This isn't the place for night life, there is not of it here. It is very very quiet, to quiet really. There is maybe 20% occupancy.
One of the largest tourist population is the Russians (Tim thinks it is because Egypt is a good place to launder money). There is a resort at the end of the promenade that just caters to Russians (and it is Russian owned). The Russian are afraid that the country will go back to communism and will have nothing to show for their money therefore they spend all their money. It was interesting, but the currency they were using in Egypt is US dollars!!! And they spend!!
There are so many Russians in Sahl Hasheesh that alot of the shop owners and staff in the hotels also speak Russian.
Well, we really enjoyed our time here, and would definitely come back for guaranteed sunshine.
Until next time.......
Happy New Year everyone.
We finally found it - Egypt! Egypt you might say? With the revolution going on and everything? Well, we did our homework first and went to the Canadian Government travel advisory website for Egypt. They suggested that we exercise a high degree of caution. But they say the same for the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, China, Belize, etc. We knew that we just had to be cautious and not talk politics and not get caught up in crowds, etc. Besides, we were just going for some sun and relaxation. We also knew that we shouldn't go to Cairo and to the pyramids (too bad) or to Luxor (home of King Tut) as the roads are too dangerous.
Christmas in a Muslim country - why not! So we booked an apartment in Sahl Hasheesh, which is a purpose built resort development with hotels, condominiums, villas and and Old Town with lots of shops and restaurants. Sahl Hasheesh, is about 20 km south of Hurghada on the Red Sea. Before you book your holiday here, remember Muslim's don't drink so you can't buy alcohol at any stores, but you can buy it from the restaurants and bars, but we decided to have a dry holiday.
The Red Sea is one of the best diving and snorkeling locations in the world. The fishing is very controlled and there is no industry to pollute the water.
Our apartment was located in Palm Beach Piazza located right next door to the Arrivals Piazza.
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| View from just outside our apartment. |
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| View of Palm Beach Piazza from the seaside. |
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| Arrivals Piazza at night. |
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| At night..... |
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| Arches of the Arrivals Piazza. |
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| View from the Arrivals Piazza. |
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| Overlooking one of the pools at the Arrivals Piazza. |
We didn't venture far. We went to edge of 'town' (read Hurghada) twice for groceries, once to downtown to buy good snorkel and fins at a dive shop.....
 |
| The Red Sea is one of the best places in the world to scuba dive and snorkel. |
..and fresh peanuts.
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| Drying fresh peanuts on the street. |
This is how we spent our days....
Tim has an underwater camera, but it broke after the first day. Fortunately he was able to take a few photos prior to it breaking......
It is, perhaps, the best snorkeling that we have ever done! Amazing!
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| The water is soooo clear. This picture was taken for the edge of the water, on the beach. |
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| Daily trip to our Brazilian Coffee Cafe for.... |
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| ...our two cappuccinos!! |
Christmas Eve...
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| Our Christmas Tree!!! |
Christmas Day...
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| A walk along the beach. Oh, and a camel! |
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| Tim made a wonderful Chicken Curry! |
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| and a Christmas cake (from Sainsbury's in London, UK) for dessert. |
These are our 'friends':
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| Mohamed - our taxi driver For 100 Egyptian Pounds (around $18 Cdn) he took us to the grocery store and mall (in Hurghada), waited for us for 2 hours and took us back to our apartment. Amazing! |
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| Our coffee lady - we forget her name. She is the only woman we saw working in a store/shop/cafe!! Still a male dominated workforce. You hardly see any women! This is one of the things that Egyptians are fighting for - equal rights! |
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| Kareem - supermarket owner Here we would buy, daily, fresh 'Lebanese bread' (like small pitas) and fresh strawberries (grown up near Cairo and the Nile Delta). |
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| Kareem's brother |
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| ...and Bussy the cat!! |
Some of the sights around Sahl Hasheesh....
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| A view of the Bay of Sahl Hasheesh from the south. |
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| View of the Bay. See the row of palm trees (date palms) in the picture above? This picture is taken from there. It is going to be a golf course. |
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| Our beachfront. The mountains surprised us! |
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| Desert and Mountains! As we were flying in, Tim looked out the window and said "Wow the beach is very wide!" - meaning it goes for miles and miles (i.e., the desert). Ha! Ha! |
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| Don't forget your water..... |
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| This is a development called azzurra. It is gorgeous. Phase I is completed, but very close to empty!! It felt like we were walking around a ghost town. |
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| azzurra villas on the Red Sea! |
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| One of the main gates into Sahl Hasheesh. |
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| Beach, 'Old Town' and Pier. |
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| A view from under the pier. |
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| Ahhhh! A coffee stop! |
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| A bar on the promenade in the 'Old Town' |
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| Our swimming pool at dusk! |
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| A little Russian cutie having fun on the beach. |
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| Yes, Tim has converted...... |
They love photo-shop - look at this picture. Can you recognize this man?
Due to the economic downturn in the world and the revolution that started in January 2011 in Egypt, the economy has suffered terribly.
We were told that a couple of years ago things were just booming in Hurghada. People and tourists everywhere, new condos and hotels being built and then....the revolution. There are soooooo many buildings that are half built, just waiting for the economy to kick back in. It looks like they just dropped their tools and left...
It is quite sad. But this wasn't a Sahl Hasheesh phenomena, most of Hurghada was like this too.
This said, while we were there, the apartment that we were staying in was viewed by a German couple and we just found out that they bought it (list price £62,000 - british pounds) and another one in the building. So maybe the economy is starting to come back. There are apartments for sale here, not on the beach, listed at €20,000. Maybe the time is now to invest in Egypt!!
These half finished building are guarded by security...
 |
| ...living in huts made out of found material. |
This isn't the place for night life, there is not of it here. It is very very quiet, to quiet really. There is maybe 20% occupancy.
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| At least we didn't have to fight for beachfront beach chairs!!! |
One of the largest tourist population is the Russians (Tim thinks it is because Egypt is a good place to launder money). There is a resort at the end of the promenade that just caters to Russians (and it is Russian owned). The Russian are afraid that the country will go back to communism and will have nothing to show for their money therefore they spend all their money. It was interesting, but the currency they were using in Egypt is US dollars!!! And they spend!!
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| 'The Russian Resort' |
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| And they are big, big people! |
There are so many Russians in Sahl Hasheesh that alot of the shop owners and staff in the hotels also speak Russian.
Well, we really enjoyed our time here, and would definitely come back for guaranteed sunshine.
Until next time.......
Happy New Year everyone.
